2002-11-15 04:00:00 PDT Beverly Hills -- Marion Knight, the hip-hop mogul who returned to the music business a year ago after four years in prison, was once again at the center of law enforcement attention Thursday as police raided his offices and property and arrested three of his associates in connection with a slaying.

Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department raided 16 sites across the county Thursday morning, including the Beverly Hills offices of Knight's music company, Tha Row Records. They searched for weapons and other evidence in connection with the killing of Eric Daniels, a member of the Compton Bloods street gang, in June.

A Las Vegas property belonging to Knight also was raided.

The authorities have said they believe that associates of Knight killed Daniels in retaliation for the April slaying of Alton McDonald, a rival Bloods member and right-hand man to Knight.

Knight, known as Suge, is not considered a suspect in the recent gang slayings, though his role is still under investigation, police said.

The Associated Press quoted Barens as saying his client was being harassed and adding, "I have yet to see any association between the people arrested, any items taken and Suge Knight."

Lt. Bob Rifkin, a gang investigator with the Sheriff's Department, said the offices of Knight's company, formerly called Death Row Records, had been raided on a tip that the Daniels killing might have been planned there.

"We received information that there might be evidence to support our investigation at Tha Row Records," Rifkin said.

The raids were carried out simultaneously at about 5:30 a.m. in the Los Angeles County cities of Malibu, Paramount, Compton and Long Beach, plus in Las Vegas. Some were at Knight's former residences. But the raid at his music company offices at 8200 Wilshire Blvd. drew the most attention.

Kelly was arrested at 5 a.m. at the Wilshire Boulevard office. Knox, who worked as a security guard at Tha Row, was arrested at about the same time at his Compton home. Payne was arrested in Long Beach.

Five other people remain at large. Authorities did not identify them or provide other details about them.

Knight once sat atop the hip-hop heap, a street kid who built a music empire, Death Row Records, that produced top-selling artists such as Tupac Shakur and Snoop Doggy Dog.

That heap collapsed when he was sent to prison five years ago for violating probation after getting into a fight in a Las Vegas hotel. That fight, at a boxing match featuring Mike Tyson, took place hours before rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down on the Las Vegas strip as he rode in a car with Knight.

A few months later, the Brooklyn rapper the Notorious B.I.G. was shot dead in Los Angeles while sitting in a sport utility vehicle outside a party for the "Soul Train" television show.

The killings remain unsolved. The authorities said they were not connected to Thursday's raids.

Knight has been described by his own employees as a thug who uses violent methods to enlist their loyalties.

Troubles followed Knight even while he was in prison. Federal authorities continued to investigate him and Death Row Records on allegations of murder, drug trafficking, money laundering and gunrunning.

That investigation resulted in a misdemeanor tax plea in January, in which Death Row pleaded guilty to failing to submit an income tax return. The label agreed to a $100,000 fine and reimbursement of an unspecified amount of unpaid taxes.

Since his release in August 2001, Knight has taken the helm of his new company, Tha Row Records. With middling and obscure artists, the label has struggled.

"It's been a troubled history for those guys," said Amaechi Uzoigwe, founder of Definitive Jux, a New York based hip-hop label.

"Whether they're up to no good or nothing at all, they've become a magnet for trouble. Trouble with the law, with artists, with other labels. They can't escape their karma."